Ferry Kitsap wins Fleet Achievement Award

SEATTLE — The Kitsap, a ferry normally assigned to the Bremerton-Seattle route, won Washington State Ferries’ 2012 Fleet Achievement Award.

The 33-year-old boat, which missed five trips during the year because of mechanical failure, was named instead of eight ferries that were perfect. Those service reliability award winners are the Hyak, Kennewick, Puyallup, Rhododendron, Salish, Spokane, Tillikum and Wenatchee.

The Fleet Achievement Award takes reliability and combines it with six other factors. Though it missed five trips, the Kitsap is a workhorse, said senior port engineer Elizabeth Nicoletti. It made 7,551 trips, sailed for 3,541 hours and traveled 56,024 nautical miles,

The Kitsap has less ability to make fixes while running like the Jumbo Mark IIs can, Nicoletti said. Other boats that don’t get nearly the use, like the Hiyu, could still win a reliability award, although the backup boat didn’t this time.